Community & Business
2 December, 2025
Community supports Men’s Shed
COMMUNITY spirit and generosity has come to the fore following the recent break and enter and theft of a cache of power tools from Mareeba Men’s Shed.
Regular activities at the Men’s Shed workshop were put in limbo early October when members returned one Monday morning to discover that all of the multi-use battery powered equipment had been stolen after a weekend break-in.
A blower attachment and a power drill that had been located in an obscure position were all that remained of a well-used Mega attachment pack that had been removed from the regular storage area.
In addition, the culprits smashed the rear door of the premises.
Police investigating the incident also found drug use equipment, a makeshift bed that had been used and shirts and pieces of scrap material that the intruder or intruders had used as makeshift curtains to black out light from within the premises.
Mareeba Police are still investigating the incident.
“As a volunteer community group that also produces items on request for community groups and the like, the theft really put a huge dent in our group’s activities as well as halting progress in any work members were undertaking for themselves and others,” Mareeba Men’s Shed president John Hartwell said.
“Once the incident had gained local radio and newspaper coverage via The Express newspaper and radio stations 4AM and KIK-FM and ABC, our ever-generous community rallied and contacted us to see how they could help us to quickly get back into full operation.
“It’s difficult to explain how these many offers of help and generous donations have helped us to quickly recover from what was a major setback.”
A number of donors were present for a tour of the Mareeba Men’s Shed facilities last week and a “thank you” morning tea.
Speaking to those assembled, Mr Hartwell passed on his organisation’s heartfelt appreciation of what he labelled “the community’s overwhelming support and generosity in support of Mareeba Men’s Shed and its many activities”.
“Make no mistake, the damage caused by the forced entry and the removal of the whole Mega Pack of vital power tools set our workshop activities back considerably,” he said.
“However, thanks to wonderful support from our community, we can now resume our projects and we pass on our great appreciation of those people and organisations who rallied to our cause when times and our outlook were not so great.”
He added that in addition to those who could attend the function, generous donations also had come from Eddie from Absolute Pest Management in Tolga, Yuri and Sharnie from Northern Livestock in Atherton, and the Mareeba Old Boys Wednesday Coffee Club.
